Mexico’s Supreme Court Orders Judges to Review That No Usurious Practices Exist in the Collection of Credit Payments

ByGustavo Castillo García

This article by Gustavo Castillo García originally appeared in the June 23, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Mexico City. The full bench of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) determined that all judges in the country are obligated to review that, in cases where payment of a credit is demanded, there are no usury practices on the part of the companies or institutions granting loans. This came as it resolved two amparos under review, in which it was determined that usury violates human rights, as established by the American Convention on Human Rights, which in its article 21.3 refers to the prohibition of any form of exploitation of man by man, and in this sense the practice of usury is understood as such.

The Court analyzed two commercial lawsuits in which it concluded that the courts are obligated to review ex officio possible usurious rates on credits that have been granted, and whether the doctrine on the matter was correctly applied.

These lawsuits reached the Court because those seeking the protection of federal justice claimed omissions by the judges who originally heard the proceedings, as well as by the members of the Appeals Chamber, in failing to review the interest rates of the contract, which in their view were excessive and constituted cases of usury.

The justices determined to revoke the rulings handed down and to require that in both cases the judges and magistrates carry out an exhaustive analysis of the interest rates, regardless of whether the borrower is a legal entity, as Justice Sara Irene Herrerías proposed in her drafts.

The cases were received by the Court last year, and after Justice Hugo Aguilar preliminarily noted that the case retained a properly constitutional question and held exceptional interest in matters of human rights, related to usury as a form of exploitation of man by man, the amparos were referred for analysis.